Make a $pring Racing Declaration

This year, the Animal Justice Party is encouraging members of the public to make a declaration that they will not participate in any Spring Racing gambling activities. This includes:

Office Sweeps

Race Day Sweeps

Other Race Day Gambling Practices

The Animal Justice Party believes that the Horse Racing industry is financially unsustainable, supports animal cruelty and lacks integrity. Here's just some of the reasons why:

Horse Racing is Financially Unsustainable

The VictorianGovernment should not be investing funds into Racing Victoria, a privately owned company.

Horse Racing is Animal Cruelty

Wastage – unsuccessful race horses sent to the knackery.

2 year old racing – horses are not physically mature to sustain racing pressures at 2 years old.

Whips – inflicts physical and psychological pain and are not proven to be effective.

Horse Racing has no Integrity

An Auditor General's report into the integrity of Racing Victoria in 2012 found it was simply "not good enough"

In 2015, Racing Victoria has been rocked with multiple scandals of performance enhancing drugs amongst its race winners, as well as throughout some of its highest profile trainers and stables in the industry.

Instead, the Animal Justice Party would like to see the Victorian Government invest in long term sustainable alternatives which maintain tourism, support the economy and most importantly prioritise the welfare of the animals involved.

I declare since I understand the implications of the horse racing industry I no longer watch or gamble on ANY horse racing activities.

Kara Drummond signed
2015-10-30 19:09:54 +1100

alex brittan signed
2015-10-30 17:28:34 +1100

MELBOURNECUPDAY should be a day of shame ,

where everybody gets to reflect on the enormous amount pain and suffering that is inflicted on the horse population in the name of greed and corruption.

Instead this ugly beast is massaged and manicured and slithered into a shiny frock and a fancy hat , and we all get drunk , spend billions of dollars , and marvel and the wonderful 20 examples of horse flesh paraded in their silks.

But is this hedonistic right of bad fashion , cheap alcohol , possibly a root and heaps of gambling truly indicative of the way the racing industry aka the gambling industry , treats their horses ?

That is a resounding NO !

These horses are the 1%.

Whilst I agree that most of these horses may enjoy racing and have magnificent nutrition , and living quarters

these are the few that have risen to the top , the supermodels.

Underneath them is a vast squalid life of suffering and death for the unseen majority.

Condemned to a life of boredom , and pain and eventually a bullet through the head when its earnings fall below its cost of maintenance.

The horse racing industry is NOT driven by a love of the horse , it is driven purely and simply by the love of money.

These are expensive creatures to buy and even more expensive to maintain.

The costs must be minimised , the return of investment maximised.

Its simple economics.

The primary problem , is that in order to minimise the investment in each horse , trainers and owners have gradually reduced the time to when they can start racing these animals.

Horses’ bones and ligaments do not stop growing , mature and then reach full load bearing potential until they are about 3 years old.

However track work and training , starts at 9 months old , and they are racing at full pace by 18 months.

The ligamentous and joint damage is horrendous.

The onset of debilitating arthritis is aggressively quick.

A horse should live for about 25 years.

A race horse , if it makes it through to actually being a racer , will have finished their racing career by the age of 5 or 6 ,

By this age they will have been shot up with every drug known to mankind – anabolic steroids , caffeine , amphetamine , cocaine , non – steroidal anti inflammatories , steroidal anti inflammatories , brochodilators , you name it they are on it

They need these drugs just to be able to run , because of their injuries , to get through the pain.

How is this good ??

They are also beaten and whipped until they bleed if they do not run fast enough. This practice has only been monitored closely in the past 12 months , thanks only to the RSPCAs intervention.

It is common for horses to bleed for hours after a race , from their lungs and through their noses , due to the massive forces and trauma inflicted on the lungs during the ‘race’

When the cost of maintenance exceeds the ROI , they become a financial liability ,

They are then “retired” , and no this does not mean gamboling in green paddocks and shagging some fine looking mares, it means a bullet through the head and off to the dog meat factory.

Some good racers are kept on as breeders for another 4-5 years , and then retired.

Even hoses that have won millions do not enjoy a peaceful dotage.

So , its pretty obvious that the vast majority of horses do not enjoy the racing industry life style.

So why does the Racing industry exist ??

MONEY

Where does this money come from ??

GAMBLING

Horse racing has historically always been a form of entertainment for the aristocracy , a pleasant distraction and something to bet on.

Grey hound racing was for the general masses , and performed the same function.

If you took away gambling the racing industry would collapse overnight.

Gambling is a massive social problem , that our governments have too much reliance on, due to their own inabilities to effectively and efficiently govern this country, to do anything about.

Sure theres a gambling help hot line . Anyone seen it advertised ?? Anyone actually know what that number is ???

Its all money harvested from those who can least afford to loose it , being used to prop up government inadequacies , and also to line the pockets of the owners of these establishments.

Live betting at the track is also a fast and effective way to launder money.

Its safer and less trackable than buying chips in a casino ,

The dogs , the horses and the casinoes have historically been the easiest way to launder money in Sydney at least.

So the racing industry , exists not for the benefit of the horse, but for gambling .

How is this good ??

Each year ,the money spent gambling on the Melbourne cup is greater than our annual foreign aid package .

How is this good ???

There is not one good thing about the racing industry.

Look to another industry for an example of how to treat horses.

The showjumpers .

They train their horses for 8 years , before they are considered mature enough to compete at the highest levels.

Thats eight years of training , and nothing but bills.

A complete and utter financial drain.

Training everyday , learning to communicate with such subtlety and depth,

To showjump , you have to get your horse to jump over a wall , thats higher than it is , that it can not see over , that it does not know what is on the other side ,

thats the level of skill and trust rider and horse must learn.

These are complex and athletic time trials , they must be superbly fit and strong !!

Simultaneously they are learning dressage , where you teach your horse how to dance , there is the pasa double , the samba , the waltz, all must be performed in harmony and with absolute synchronicity between rider and horse. The same way human dancers communicate , the rider touches lightly on a flank , taps twice with a wrist on a shoulder , rises slightly in their seat …

Then they transport these , dancing , commando horses around the world.

They have the best quality stables , nutrition , veterinary care

They are so heavily emotionally , financially and time wise invested in these gorgeous animals .

Oh and by the way , please adopt a grey hound ( GAP society run from Sydney University ),as tens of thousands of these wonderfully aristocratic and gentle creatures are destroyed each year , when they become nothing but financial liabilities.